Would you like to learn how to write a reflective report? Since you are on this page, it means that you do. The good news is that you have arrived at just the right place. Not only will we talk about the reflective report for university (or high school), we will also show you how to write a good introduction. An easy to follow template is included, but we will also discuss the Gibbs Reflection Cycle format. After reading this in-depth guide, you’ll realize that writing a reflective account is not as difficult as you had imagined.
However, you need to keep in mind that your reflective report is still an academic paper. This means that – even though you can write it in first person – you need to keep your writing objective and to the point. You must have a clear focus for your writing, of course. If the professor asks you to write a reflection report on his course, you shouldn’t attempt to lie or bend the truth. Read on to find out more important things about the reflective report!
What Is a Reflective Report: The Basics
Often, your professor will ask you to reflect on one of your most important life experiences, so you need to take a few minutes to think about a good topic before you begin writing the paper. In case you need some help with this, you can always get in touch with our ENL writers and ask for their opinion. You’ll get all the assistance you need in no time.
Two Types of Reflective Writing
Did you know that there are actually two types of reflective reports you can write?
The most popular is the experiential reflection report. It is the best way to make a strong connection between theory and practice because you are forced to evaluate and reflect critically on your own skills and experiences. You will have to think about not only your actions, but also your choices. Also, you are somewhat forced to think about how you could have done things better.
The second type of reflective writing is the reading reflection. Basically, your professor will ask you to read something (most often a specific book) and then write a reflective report about it. You will have to formulate and support informed opinions regarding various essential ideas in the book. Also, you are required to discuss your interpretation if these ideas and concepts.
How to Do Reflective Writing: Tips and Tricks
Most students don’t really know how to do reflective writing. After all, you’ve probably only written argumentative, persuasive, compare and contrast, and cause and effect essays so far. The first time you hear about the reflective essay, your world can turn upside down. This sounds like a very difficult assignment that has the potential to ruin your GPA. You shouldn’t worry too much though. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you on your journey to a stellar reflection paper:
- Make effective use of language and describe everything you’ve felt (or feel) in great detail.
- Do your best to help your readers share the emotions you’ve gone through or are trying to describe.
- You should describe all your feelings regarding the particular event you are reflecting on.
- Remember that critical and analytic thought is an absolute requirement for reflective writing.
- You should have a clear line of argument and organize your thoughts in a logical manner.
- Remember that your paper should contain a section dedicated to the things you’ve learned from your experience.
- You could discuss a different perspective on the experience, not just your own.
Learn How to Write a Reflective Report Introduction
Now that you know what a reflective paper is and have a general idea of what you need to cover in your essay, it’s time to learn how to write a reflective report introduction. This is the first part of your paper and is, in fact, one of its most important sections. A strong introduction has the potential to earn you some very nice bonus points.
To start the introduction, you should find a good hook sentence. This sentence will pull the reader in but not give away too many details. After the hook, most academic writers insert the thesis statement. This is basically the question you aim to answer (or the goal of your writing). You could continue the intro with a bit of background information about the event or experience. Finally, use a transition sentence to make a smooth transition to the first body paragraph.
Remember, the hook and thesis statement are both extremely important parts of the introduction. If you are having trouble coming up with these two parts, or if you simply don’t know how to start a reflective report, you should get in touch with our team of experienced reflective paper writers. They can send you a few ideas right away.
An Easy to Use Reflective Report Template
We know that students learn faster when they see a practical example. This is why you will be thrilled to learn that we have a reflective report template for you. Don’t worry, you don’t have to download anything. This template (which uses the 5 paragraph essay structure) is free to use:
- The introduction. We’ve already discussed the introduction in the previous section. Remember that the hook should show the reader the most exciting part of the experience with as few details as possible. Also, the thesis statement should show the reader how the experience has influenced you in just one sentence.
- 1st body paragraph. The first body paragraph is the place where you will make a detailed description of the event or experience that influenced your life. Make it a very through description and make effective use of language to help your reader feel what you’ve felt. However, try to remain objective and not sound emotional.
- 2nd body paragraph. The second body paragraph is the place where you will explain to your audience the effect the experience or even has had on your life. Again, you should be as thorough as possible in your description.
- 3rd body paragraph. The third body paragraph is very important. It is the section that describes the lessons you’ve learned from reflecting on your experience or on the event. Clearly state and discuss each and every lesson you’ve learned.
- Conclusion. The conclusion is pretty straightforward. You need to make a summary of the event or experience (a summary of the 3 body paragraphs basically). You will end the conclusion by explaining/describing the impact the experience has had on your life and the most important things you’ve learned from it.
This wasn’t so hard, was it? In case you need to discuss more than one experience, simply add more paragraphs. The 5 paragraph essay structure can have more than 3 body paragraphs. And if you want to learn how to write a reflective report on group work, take a look at the Gibbs Reflection Cycle format below.
The Gibbs Reflection Cycle Format
In case you have no idea how to write a reflective learning report, you could always use the Gibbs Reflection Cycle format. Here are the basic steps (written as questions):
- What happened? How did the experience start?
- What were your feelings the moment the experience started? What were your thoughts?
- What did you feel was positive about the experience? What were the negative aspects?
- How did you perceive the situation? What should you have done differently?
- What else could you have done differently?
- If the situation were to present itself again, what course of action would you take?
There are other models for reflective writing, of course. However, the Gibbs model is pretty easy to use and helps you structure your essay correctly. You will find that mixing the template we’ve given you and the Gibbs model can help you quickly write a great reflective report.
Getting a Top Quality Reflective Report Example
Still need help how to write a critical reflection? What better way to write such a report than by following a great reflective report example. The only problem is finding such an example. Of course, you could always ask your professor for a sample, but we sincerely doubt you will get an answer. Your classmates are also probably not going to help you with this. So, here’s perfect example from experts just for you.
Using Blanchard’s model of Situational Leadership, assess your personal strengths and weaknesses in terms of your (you) applying each of the following leadership styles:
This section illustrates a personal reflective perspective regarding the application of Blanchard’s model of Situational Leadership in ascertaining the management roles such as supporting, coaching, delegating and directing. Before getting into a deeper analysis of its application, there is need of understanding a general meaning of this situational theory. The concept asserts that; leadership is dependent on an individual’s situation, and hence there is no leadership style that can be deliberated as the best (Graeff, 1983).
For Blanchard, the organizational tasks tend to vary, and that each task should be accorded diverse leadership styles. An individual with good leadership styles should have the ability of adapting his leadership styles to the targeted goals and objectives. Through this model, it can be learned that what makes up a good leader is inclined to the capacity of setting up appropriate goals, capacity of assuming responsibility, experience and education.
Supporting
In the course of utilizing supportive leadership model, there were various strengths and weaknesses that were accrued. On a positive note, this style garnered strengths from its act of reducing the employees’ frustration and stress in a workplace. The effectiveness of this style is that; it primarily assisted especially when the organizational tasks are tedious, stressful and dangerous (Leviton, 2006). Personally, the main strength lies on the personal ability of establishing appropriate goals, and setting up appropriate path of achieving these goals. On the other hand, the ultimate personal weakness was realized at the moments when the individuals were new to a given task, when looking for the new challenges, and when disillusioned.
Coaching
The application of coaching leadership is very crucial in each and every organization. It offers effective outcomes in settings whereby there is need of improving the performance. They assist people in advancing their skills, building the bench strengths, as well as the provision of guidance. The effectiveness of this leadership style is in a situation whereby the followers are experienced, responsible and agreeable (Graeff, 1983). In this case, it has been realized that the personal strengths with regards to this style is on the ability and passion of encouraging and inspiring people so as to create a good working environment. The only weakness that is often faced is on some situations when the employees are incapable or unwilling to learn.
Delegating
Delegative leadership style is rather a hands-off approach whereby a leader places responsibility on the lower level employees (Hersey & Blanchard, 1969). The ultimate strengths associated with this leadership style is on the capability of utilizing employees endowed with skills of analyzing situations, as well as the confidence of implementing decisions. On the other hand, it is marred with a primary weakness in that; it usually leads to lack of motivation and poorly defined roles.
Directing
Just like the other leadership styles, directive leadership is associated with various strengths and weaknesses. This is a form of leadership that is often very effective when there are relatively inexperienced followers who needs subsequent instructions. The only weakness is that; the style requires a constant closer monitoring framework just in case of the need for any additional directions. In this case, the entire process is detrimental to the employees’ motivation and performance levels.
The very first place where you can find such a sample is the Internet, of course. The only problem is that most of the examples you find online are poorly written. Also, you won’t be able to use any of the content in these samples because your professor may use a plagiarism checker on your paper.
Another way to get an example is to ask around on blogs and forums, especially those related to education. While you may get some decent examples from these sources, you won’t be able to use any of the information in your own paper.
So, what’s the best and most effective way of getting a great reflection report sample? Truth be told, we are your best option. Our experienced writers can write an example for you in no time. Because the sample is written just for you, it will be 100% original. This means you can safely use parts of it in your own paper.
Get Professional Research Paper Help
We know that writing a reflection report can be a difficult task for most students – especially for students who have not had any previous experience with this type of academic writing. This is why you will be thrilled to learn that our company offers academic writing services to students all around the world, including British university and college students.
Getting research paper help from a professional writer is easy. Just get in touch with us and tell our expert what you need. Of course, you will have to provide in-depth details about the experience or event that you want the report to be about. Our expert will take it from there and will send you the best possible report before the deadline.
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Do you have any more question about writing a reflective account? Check out our FAQ section:
Should I use references in my reflective report?
Generally speaking, you should use references whenever you are writing an academic paper. It’s something that is – in most cases – mandatory. You can get away with not including any references only if your professor told you that you don’t need them.
Can I bend the truth a little in my report?
Academic writing is unbiased, so bending the truth is not something we would advise you to try. Your professor may figure it out and you will get penalized for it. Even though you are writing a reflection report, you need to remain objective.
Is there a difference between a reflective report and a reflective essay?
A reflective report is indeed different from a reflective essay. While the essay usually covers a single experience, the report more than one experience. Also, a report uses section headings and is more structured than the essay.
Can I blame others for the failures I’ll talk about in my report?
Truth be told, you can blame others in your critical reflection. However, it does not mean it is the correct approach. Instead of trying to put the blame on other people, try to figure out what your mistakes were and how you can avoid them in the future.
How quickly can your experts write me an exceptional reflective report?
The good news is that our expert UK writers can write you a reflective report in no time. We can get your project done is as little as 3 hours, even in the middle of the night. Keep in mind that our customer support department is online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Will the report I receive from you be original?
We can guarantee that the report will be 100% original. Even though our assistance is cheap, you can rely on us for the most interesting and informative academic content. We are a trusted writing company that has helped thousands of students get top grades on their papers.
How many paragraphs should the reflective report be?
Generally speaking, you should have at least 4 paragraphs in an academic paper. However, due to the nature of this assignment, we recommend you to include at least 5 paragraphs. You will have an introduction, a conclusion, and at least 3 body paragraphs.
What is the average size of a reflection report?
While there is no absolute size for any academic paper, you should aim for at least 300 words (this would constitute the bare minimum). A report that has the potential to get an A or an A+ is anywhere from 500 to 700 words long.